The Story Of How We Met
by Reyfan01
Summary: How did a sassy strong woman like Imelda fall for a guy like Hector? The Rivera family wants to know and they won't rest until they get the truth. Hector, unsure of where he stands with his wife, reluctantly tells his side of the story. What will Imelda say? Will Imelda find out? Will she have a problem with it or not?
1. Chapter 1

[First of all there will be little to no Spanish in this story because I don't know Spanish very well. But I love this idea for a story and I wanted to write it. So, please be nice. Second, depending on how this goes I may continue to a new story with the idea of Hector and Imelda renewing their vows in the Land of the Dead…Oh and I decided that this will take place before the epilogue but months after Miguel returns to the Land of the Living…..another thing this will be told in Hector's point of view]

It's been months now since I was almost completely forgotten. I can still remember the feeling of my bones giving out and being unable stand. I accepted my fate and felt it was proper punishment for leaving my family when I was alive. I spent my entire time in the Land of the Dead hating myself for leaving and begging for a chance to take it all back. I knew it was hopeless to think Imelda would forgive me when she came from the Land of the Living. I didn't blame her, I could never be angry with her. I had no right to be angry. But I still held out hope that someday she would forgive me. Every time she turned me away she grew even more enraged that I dared to show my face around her. Each time I saw her furious face, it broke my heart. I can't imagine the pain I put her through; the years she spent raising our daughter without me there. When we were married I vowed to always be by her side forever. But then I broke that vow when I left. It didn't matter that I was trying to come home or that I wasn't leaving for good, not to her. The fact that I left at all was what hurt the most.

I assumed Coco was feeling the same as her mother. After all she never put up my photo, so she must have still been hurt. But even though my body was slowing falling apart from the years of not being remembered by my family, I was amazed I was still around. I knew that my little Coco was the one reason I was still existing. Even though I left her, she still remembered me. I promised I would find a way to see Coco because I knew she would soon pass on, and once she did, I would truly be forgotten and I'd never get to see my daughter again.

Imagine my surprise when this past Dia de Muertos not only revealed to me that my so called best friend was my murderer, but that I had a great great grandson, Miguel. Not only that, but Miguel wanted to become a musician. I suppose it was in his blood. After all he is my grandson. And any boy who would give up an easy opportunity to go back home just so he can play music and even DARE to cross Imelda, was truly related to me. He certainly took me on a wild ride. Not only did I perform on a stage again for the first time in decades, I was able to talk to Imelda, able to hear her sing again, hold her in my arms for a brief second, almost was forgotten and then be possibly one of if not the only soul to ever be so close to the second death and then return. Miguel did it. Somehow, he was able to remind Coco of me.

Imelda allowed me to get to know my family. And since then she has slowly started to forgive me. She introduced me to my son in law, Julio, my sister in law, Rosita, and my grandchild, Victoria. I was also reintroduced to her brothers Felipe and Oscar. They slowly became more comfortable around me and I started to feel like I truly belonged with them. Every now and then when I visit their workplace, I bring my guitar to play something for them. Nothing too loud, and always outside. There's not much room inside the shoe shop anyway. I was fine with just being near them. Rosita, I think her name was, kindly pulled out a chair from inside the store and placed it outside for me to sit on while I play. I tuned my guitar and played whatever felt natural and slowly closed my eyes and laid back on the chair just enjoying the sound of my guitar.

"Ummm, Papa Hector?" a high voice spoke, I think to me. I opened my eyes and looked to my side and saw Rosita standing there looking somewhat skittish. 'Papa Hector?' I like the sound of that.

"Ah Rosita, is there something wrong?" I asked smiling at her shyness. She was the first one to accept me but always seemed nervous to approach me. Then again, with Imelda I assume all of the family was a little afraid of her and careful with their words so its not an easy habit to break.

"No! No, nothing like that" She said starting fiddle with her fingers now. I thought it was endearing. "I just wanted to ask you something. Something maybe too personal, but since we are family now, I was just wondering….." She continued to drag on so I decided to help her out.

"Whatever it is you want to ask me you can. I have no secrets" I said with a light laugh. There was no big secret about me. I always prided myself on being quite the open book. I continued to tune my guitar as she took a breath about to speak.

"How did you and Imelda meet?" She asked and it was at that point I strummed the wrong chord unprepared for that question. My eyes popped and I looked at her anxiously awaiting my answer. I didn't know if I was allowed to say anything. If I tell her, she will tell Imelda, and if Imelda doesn't approve of what I say or worse says I remembered wrong my face will meet the sharp heel of her boot. It makes sense Imelda never spoke about me to the family so she never shared the story of how we met. Even being a skeleton my throat felt dry and I felt the need gulp.

"Uhhh…well it's hard to say really" I replied awkwardly scratching the back of my neck. "When Imelda and I first spoke face to face, I already knew who she was" I admitted.

"Does she know?" Rosita asked more boldly and less nervous. She seemed truly interested in hearing the whole story. Normally I'd be happy to share the story of how Imelda and I met and fell in love. Everyone back in Shantytown knows that story. But this time, Imelda will surely hear me talk about our past. I still don't entirely know what our relationship is. She seemed happy to be around me at the Sunrise Spectacular but has since remained kind of distant. We seem about as close as old friends not really husband and wife. I don't know how she feels about me. If I do anything to displease her now, it will ruin what progress we've made.

"I don't know really. Maybe you should ask her I'm sure she'd be happy to tell you the story." I suggest with a nervous smile hoping she would drop it.

"She's gone into town for supplies and besides I have a feeling there are some things she won't tell me" she said with one arm cradling her elbow while that hand is stroking her chin.

"But you think I will? You could get me in trouble" I said trying to smile but I can feel my face cracking. I take off my guitar and place it at the side of my chair.

She looks amused by my nerves. She actually giggles. "Oh don't worry Papa Hector, she won't get mad. And besides I won't tell her anything you told me if you don't want me to. It will just be between us." She said with smile trying to ease my nerves…..its not working.

"Just the two of us?" I ask for clarification using my hand to point to her and myself.

"Actually she meant the six of us" said a familiar male voice. I look where the voice is coming from and I see Felipe, Oscar, Victoria and Julio all peeping from the doorway. So this was group plan and Rosita was the one they sent to ask.

"You were all in on this." I ask pointing to everyone in disbelief. They all nod. Some more eagerly than others. "How do I know all of you won't talk to Imelda? Especially you two" I said pointing to the twins with an unconvinced frown. Those two were really nosy muchachos when I was seeing Imelda. They would spy on us when we went out and would sometimes try to get us caught by her parents.

"Eh give us some credit Hector, we're grown men now" Felipe said shrugging his shoulders innocently. "We won't get you in trouble we're just as curious as everyone else" Oscar said.

"Yeah, cuz no offense amigo, but you were a hopeless mess when it came to Imelda." Felipe said with a smirk crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, we saw how hard you tried and we really just felt bad for you" Oscar said with his arms also crossed now.

"We never thought Imelda would actually pick _you_ " Felipe said emphasizing the 'you' part.

"Thanks for the honesty" I reply sarcastically slumping over with my elbows on my knees holding my face in annoyance. I knew I must have looked like a lovesick fool whenever Imelda was around. I didn't need confirmation from her brothers.

"Naturally we want to know what caused Imelda to marry a musician like you" Victoria said without an ounce of hesitation.

"You guys are really winning me over with the compliments" I said sarcastically starting to get unnerved by all their comments.

"No! Please we just want to know what it was like when you two met, fell in love and how you felt when you were together. She's a very strong stubborn woman. We want how you won her heart. Any man who can win over Mama Imelda must be someone special" Rosita explained. Now that sounded nicer to hear.

"Exactly! What she said" Julio finally spoke. The twins and Victoria nodded in agreement.

I thought about long and hard. It didn't seem to be any harm to talk to them. If they were really only going to keep in amongst themselves then there was no harm. I chuckled and gave in.

"Okay, okay I'll talk" I threw my hands up in defeat and stood up. "But I can't speak for Imelda. I don't exactly know what was going through her head, but I can tell you my side."

"Oooooooh wonderful! Oh let's do this inside." Rosita suggested eagerly as she grabbed her by the arm and dragged me inside the shoe shop. I grabbed my guitar as she was pulling me in. Everyone followed back into the house and closed the door and locked it.


	2. Chapter 2

[This will be going somewhat in an out of Hector's point of view. Again very little Spanish knowledge, so there will be little to no Spanish in this story. Also I don't know much about what small towns in Mexico were like in the early 1900s so forgive me if some things I say are not historically accurate.]

"It's not all that much of an interesting story really." I said as I see my family scatter around me closing the windows and locking any other door around and moving more chairs to the table they just moved in front of me. Felipe and Oscar push me down on the chair and they practically throw off all the shoes and shoe tools off the table. I jumped in my seat hearing those heavy shoes make an impact on the ground.

"Shouldn't you be more careful with those shoes" I ask. Victoria scoffs at my question and smirks at me. It's quite a rare sight to see her crack a smile.

"Papa Hector, shoes are what we excel at. Let us worry about them" Victoria says. Everyone takes a seat. Rosita is on my left and Felipe and Oscar squeeze on my right leaning into my personal space. Victoria was on the left corner near Rosita while Julio was on the right corner near the twins. Now everyone else leaned in my direction waiting for me to speak. I was never much for this kind of attention but since they went through this much trouble, I couldn't disappoint them. I took a deep breath and let it out.

"Well like I said before, I knew who Imelda was before we actually met. It was about a year before we met to be exact." I said explaining. Actually saying the words out loud, I was remembering exactly how that day went. I was probably looking out into space now with a dumb grin on my face but I couldn't contain it.

"Oh yes, do I ever remember that day." I said with a sigh holding my chin in my hand leaning that elbow on the table.

"It was a warm summer day. I wasn't much older than 16. I was on my way to work at one of the few inns in Santa Cecilia. Senor Sanchez, the old man who owned the place offered me work at his place with decent pay. Even let me stay in one of the cheaper rooms. I was saving up for a new guitar. I gotta tell ya, the way that guy worked me you thought I was the only worker he had. He had 3 other guys but that old pen….." I started to go off and get angry until I heard a cough.

"Umm Papa Hector, you're drifting off topic" Victoria said. I look at her and feel embarrassed for getting off course. I chuckle nervously.

"Sorry, anyway while I was walking I heard something. Something…beautiful." I said dreamily….

[This part of the story is me being the narrator for the scene]

 _Hector stopped in his tracks as he heard a beautiful voice. He couldn't make out all the lyrics but he knew this song. He pushed passed the people walking the other direction he was going a turned a corner following the sound. The louder the voice got, the faster he moved._

' _Y aunque la vida me cueste llorona_ _  
_ _No dejaré de quererte '_

 _Hector rushed passed a couple of homes careful not to run into anyone. He turned one more corner and followed the voice to a small house. He approached the house but as he noticed the sound wasn't coming from inside the house but outside. It was coming from the back. He was about to rush over and see who was the owner of such a lovely voice, but stopped to think for a second. He didn't want to startle this person by surprising them out of nowhere. Besides, who knows if they were such a kind person. He had to be careful. So he took slow steps, tiptoeing his way to the back. He peeked out around the corner slowly and nearly blew his cover when he gasped._

 _Standing there hanging laundry out to dry was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. She worn her wavy black hair in a long braid over her shoulder. Her face bare of any makeup and yet she still was far more beautiful than any painted lady he'd ever seen. She wore a beautiful purple dress with a long skirt that stopped at her ankles. She seemed to have quite a taste for footwear because she wore a pair lovely boots that complimented her dress. What a lovely figure she had. Hector couldn't believe that this woman was not only blessed with outer beauty but a voice equally as beautiful. And yet there she was singing happily in a daze as she picked a shirt from her laundry basket and hung it on the old wire with the rest of the laundry._

' _Ay de mí llorona, llorona_ _  
_ _Llorona de azul celeste_ _  
_ _Ay de mí llorona, llorona_ _  
_ _Llorona de azul celeste'_

 _Hector sighed dreamily as he continued to stare at her. He felt content to spend the rest of his days just staring at this woman. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to notice the twig that was under his foot. He accidentally stepped forward enough to snap the twig and then the woman stopped singing. Hector panicked and ran as fast as he could. He could hear her angry voice call out. Luckily he was able to hide around a corner before she could see him._

" _Who's there?! Whoever you were, if you know what's good for you, you'll keep away from me!" She shouted. He peeked a little and noticed the woman wore quite an angry face._

"I couldn't believe it, but she was even more beautiful when she was angry" I said remembering her cross expression as Imelda's looked around for whoever was spying on her. Sure enough she held one boot in her hand and raised it like a weapon.

"You were spying on her, oh how romantic" Victoria commented dryly.

"Eh, you've seen what you're Mama Imelda is like! She would have killed me if she knew I was watching her!" I tried to explain.

"It's okay Papa Hector, we understand, now continue" Rosita said with a giddy grin and held both fists under her chin waiting for me to continue.

"Well after that, I would come by her house every now and then to see her. But it got harder and harder. I think she started to notice someone was coming by to see her, so she would spend as little time outside her house as possible. When that happened, I stopped coming over. It would be too risky to hang around while she could be in the house looking for me. So, I did the next best thing. I tried to find her walking the streets around town and try to 'accidentally' run into her. But every time I got close, I got scared and ran. And then whenever I got my nerve back, there would always be something or someone getting in my way." I explained.

"Ernesto was the only friend I had so naturally I would ask him advice on what I should do. I should've known that was a bad idea" I said remembering the bitter memory of his former friend's blunt 'advice'.

" _Ay amigo! You fell for Imelda? Save yourself the pain and move on." Ernesto said to Hector with a shrug and wave of his hand._

 _Hector and Ernesto were sitting on the steps of the Plaza in the center of the town. He came to Ernesto for advice not to hear this._

 _"Why should I? You never know, she could love me." Hector said with a smirk puffing out his chest. "I mean obviously she loves music. You don't sing the way she did without feeling a real passion for it. I'm a musician, and I can play songs for her. I can write songs for her. We have something in common." Hector said excited as he hopped to his feet and threw his arms in the air in glee._

 _"Uh huh….so if you feel this strongly, how come you still haven't even spoken to her yet?" Ernesto asked with a quirked eyebrow and arms crossed. Hector's uplifted arms staggered in the air and his happy face fell to a frown as he sighed and plopped back down to the ground._

 _"I just don't know the exact words to tell her how I feel. When I figure them out in my head, they vanish when I see her face and I turn tail and run." Hector said slumping forward holding his head in his hands. Ernesto sighs and pats his friend's back trying to comfort him._

 _"Hector, this woman will drive you loco if you worry so much about it. Imelda has quite the reputation around town." Ernesto explains._

 _"Another thing how do you know her name?" Hector asked popping his head up and staring at his friend suspiciously._

 _"Oh no, don't worry amigo. I have no interest in her. From what I hear she's one tough woman to please." Ernesto explains crossing his arms behind his head seeming to stretch._

 _"What do you mean?" Hector asked curious._

 _"You think you're the only man in Santa Cecilia with his eyes on Imelda. Almost every man in town as approached her and she turns everyone down. I hear she's got quite the temper." Ernesto said with a chuckle._

 _"I hear that" Hector replied._

 _"Plus, she's turned down some of the wealthiest eligible bachelors in town. If she refused them, she obviously has a higher taste. And no offense amigo, but you hardly have any wealth to speak of and aren't that popular with the women in town. So, honestly, what chance do you think you have of winning Imelda's heart if she turned them down?" Ernesto asked with a smirk. Hector felt like he got punched in the gut._

"I was convinced Ernesto was right, what chance did I have with Imelda if she turned all those other men down who had more money and charm than I could ever hope to have?" I explained remembering how hopeless I felt when I believed Imelda was above me and I could never hope to even catch her eye.

"Some friend" Felipe commented.

"I don't know why or how you became friends with that man." Julio commented in disbelief.

"Well back then Ernesto and I were all each other had. Both of our families thought we were bums when we wanted to become musicians. Ernesto left his home with no regrets and bragged about how he got rid of the ball and chains that were holding him back. I tried to make my family understand my pursuit of music but they threw me out. My father said 'no son of mine is going to be some good for nothing musician.' And that was it, his mind was made up. Ernesto and I both worked at Senor Sanchez's inn but because money was tight we had to share a room." I said rubbing the back of my neck remembering those long nights.

I look up and notice everyone staring at me as if I had two heads. "What?" Then I remember what I just said and chuckled.

"I'd rather not get into those details, luckily Senor Sanchez eventually allowed us to bring in another bed into the room so it put and end to that awkward situation." I explained.

"We're going off topic again Papa Hector. Get to the point when you and Mama Imelda met." Victoria requested with an annoyed tone.

"Ah, well, that's actually the simple part. You see Imelda and I finally spoke after I accidentally bumped into her and I wasn't even trying to" I explained with a light laugh. There really wasn't much to that part. I couldn't believe I finally achieved my goal of approaching Imelda by accident.

"That's it?" Oscar asked unimpressed.

"Not as interesting as I thought" Felipe said rather disappointed.

"Well wait! That's just when we first met eye to eye. It's not like we married right then. I still didn't know what to say to her or how to act around her." I explained. Honestly these guys may have been adults but they were as impatient as children.

"Well don't leave us in suspense what happened next" Rosita begged. She seemed eager still.

I was about to speak when a loud banging scared me quiet.

"AY! WHO LOCKED THIS DOOR?! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL TO NEVER LOCK THE DOOR DURING THE DAY?! AND WHY ARE THE WINDOWS SHUT?!" Shouted a familiar angry female voice.

"IMELDA!" I screamed and everyone panicked.


	3. Chapter 3

[To answer a question someone asked me, yes I will tell Imelda's side of the story of how they met. Every story so far loves to tell the story of how they met with Hector being the lovesick fool and Imelda playing hard to get. While it's fun to write Hector kissing the ground she walks on, I think Imelda is just as crazy about Hector as he was about her and still is. She was supposedly softer and sweeter when she was young and grew more strict and harsh after Hector left. I think the fact that she was so angry and tried so hard to erase Hector from the family showed how much she loved and adored him that it crushed her so much that he left her and their child. You don't ban someone from your family history to be forgotten if you didn't care that much about them. If you had so much love for someone and then they abandon you, it will drive you to do drastic things.]

Hector's P.O.V

We all panicked and scattered around the shop to put everything back in its place. I helped the twins move the table back into its original place. Rosita and Victoria worked in flash speed picking up all the shoes from the floor and into its proper places. I was thoroughly impressed with my family's skills, it makes me wonder exactly how many times they've actively tried to hide things from Imelda.

"Whoever locked this door better have a good explanation! And if no one opens this door in the next 5 seconds you better pray I don't find a way in myself!" Imelda yelled outside the door banging on it. It sounded like she was using her boot now. It also looked like she would make good on her word of that threat because he could see the wood door start to crack from the impact of her boot.

"1! 2! 3! …" Julio ran to the door and unlocked the door before she could count to 4. He huffed and puffed from running to the door and gasped in fear as he saw Imelda in all her beautiful fury glaring at us, heavily breathing from pounding on the door still holding her boot. I didn't know what to do with my hands and I could feel my knees shaking. I look on my left and right and see everyone else equally afraid.

"Mama Imelda…." Rosita said trying to sound cheerful and not at all guilty with a forced smile. Imelda's eyes grew even more narrow. "You're back early…."

"Yes, I was lucky enough to purchase all of our supplies in such good time, I thought we could start early on that new shoe design we discussed and low and behold I'm locked out OF MY OWN STORE!" Imelda yells stomping into the room. I felt I could relax a bit when I saw her put her boot back on. She had her arms crossed and her face turned up looking down on Rosita as best she could.

"Well you see, we just wanted to have a nice talk to get to know our Papa Hector." Julio explained removing his hat from his head to hide behind it as he tried to speak.

"And you had the doors and windows locked why?" She asked turning her head to look back at him with what would have been a raised eyebrow if she had one.

Everyone looked at the other to see if anyone had an idea. I felt bad that my family was in such a spot. Luckily I thought of something.

"We….wanted some privacy!" I shouted triumphantly. Imelda stared at me now both annoyed and confused.

"What?" she asked now putting her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, you know how there are bunch of nosy chismosos around town. We…..didn't want someone listening in on our private family conversation just to be the talk of the town. I mean you value our family's privacy right?" I ask with a nervous smile shrugging my shoulders hoping she'd buy it.

She took a few more steps towards me and leaned in looking me in the eye. She turned her eyes in Victoria's direction who has seemed the least phased from this whole predicament.

"Is this true?" Imelda asks her.

Victoria smoothly says, "Yes it is. I thought it was very considerate of him to value our privacy." She added. I felt touched she added that last part to give me credit.

She looked at everyone else and just stayed silent for awhile. Then she sighed in defeat and held her head in her hand.

"Alright I believe you, but don't lock the door! Closing it is enough. No one would be dumb enough to try and trespass into our shop." Imelda said picking up her bag of supplies she bought. Somewhere in the interrogation she must have dropped it on the floor.

She walked into another room and everyone let out a deep breath in relief. I fanned myself with my hat and leaned on a nearby chair.

"That was too close you guys" I said.

"But we did it" Felipe said.

"Yeah next time we get a chance you can finish the story" Oscar said.

"Next time?!" I shout. "Oh no, no, no. We can't keep on doing this. It felt wrong lying to Imelda and I already told you how we met, that's all you wanted to know." I said with my arms crossed picking up my guitar ready to leave.

"Yes well that was before we learned how you met wasn't interesting at all" Victoria bluntly stated.

"Kind of boring" Felipe said and Oscar nodded in agreement.

I couldn't believe these guys. "Well sorry to break it to you but that's how we met. I heard her sing, I ran, I couldn't talk to her for a year and then I ran into her. That's how it happened." I was almost out the door when I sighed in exhaustion from all the stress my family put me through.

"Look, I never thought I'd ever be able to be this close to Imelda in decades. Now she lets me into her shop, into her house, allowed me to be a part of the family again. I'm not gonna ruin that by keeping secrets from her. God knows I've hurt the woman enough as it is." I said as I walk out the door and wave goodbye to my family without looking at them.

[Since Hector is not in this part I will narrate the following scenes.]

The family looked out the door and then at each other.

"He's right, we shouldn't have pushed." Rosita said holding her hands to her chest.

"I suppose it was selfish of us to push him to reveal personal information about Mama Imelda and his relationship." Victoria admitted looking ashamed of herself.

"Well why don't we ask Mama Imelda then?" Julio asked putting his hat back on.

"If it were that easy we would have done it in the first place" Felipe said sarcastically.

"And why didn't we? Because we were too afraid to ask. And we shouldn't be afraid. If Mama Imelda has allowed him to get this close to us then it shouldn't be a problem if we ask about her past. We are barely getting to know Papa Hector and there is so much to know." Victoria said wagging her finger at Felipe as if to give me a lecture.

"If you're so brave why don't you ask her?" Oscar challenged crossing his arms and looking annoyed. Which is fair since they all were too afraid to approach Mama Imelda before.

Victoria glared at him and then turned her back to him. "Fine I will" she said defiantly and marched into the room Mama Imelda went into.

Rosita watched her go and suddenly felt bold. "I'll come with you" she said.

Victoria looked at her for a moment in shock but then smiled warmly. So they both walked into the other room to talk to Mama Imelda.

The three remaining men in the room looked at each other scratching the back of their heads.

"What should we do now?" Julio asked.

"I don't know about you but I don't want to be in this room when she starts throwing things." Oscar said and walked out fast.

"Me neither" Felipe replied and walked out also. Julio followed behind them.

The Rivera shoe shop doubled as their house. The living room and kitchen were in the bottom and up the stairs was the bedrooms. Mama Imelda dropped the bag of supplies on the kitchen table, more like threw it because she was exhausted she didn't even care that she put all the new shoe material on the table where they eat.

"Mama Imelda" Victoria spoke. Imelda turned around and saw Victoria and Rosita looking at her almost in fear.

"Ay, don't worry. I'm not mad anymore. I just need some rest." Imelda said waving her hand to signal she was over her anger. She felt winded just from banging on the door.

"Yes, well actually we wanted to ask you something" Victoria said walking up to her. Imelda had turned her back and was about to walk up the stairs. She turned around and faced her again.

"What is it?" Imelda asked.

"Well it's a little personal, but you seem okay now so we thought it would be okay to ask now, but if you.." Rosita was cut off.

"ENOUGH BEATING AROUND THE BUSH YOU KNOW I HATE THAT KIND OF TALK" Imelda demanded annoyed.

"We wanted to ask about how you met Papa Hector." Victoria said fast. Imelda's annoyed face turned blank and her eyes blew out wide. It didn't look like she was going to blow up in anger, but she did look uneasy.

"Why would you want to know that", Imelda asked suspicious.

"So we could know more about your past together and how you fell in love" Rosita spoke up with an innocent smile.

Imelda raised a would be eyebrow at her and just stayed silent. "What makes you think you need to know that" She asked giving her full attention to them and now crossing her arms and looking down on them as if they were being punished.

"He's our family now Mama Imelda. We want to know more about him. We want to know more about your past together. For years we never bothered to ask you about him because we knew how he hurt you so we didn't even though we were all curious as to what brought you together. Now he's part of our familia but it feels like talking to a stranger because we know so little about him." Victoria said.

Imelda's arms dropped and her harsh expression dropped she looked down at her hands and then held them to her chest.

"We want to know what it was like when you first met him. How did you feel when you were around him? How did he treat you?" Rosita asked happily. Victoria looked at her with a smirk. She knew Rosita was looking for a tragic romance story.

Imelda gave a light chuckle and smiled. "He treated like royalty." She looked up and to the side starting to reminisce.

"I remember how he would shower me with compliments. How he would stare at me when I wasn't looking but I could feel his eyes on me; how he would smile at me and not look away even when I caught him staring at me. He put me on a pedestal as if I were a goddess. Ay dios mio I didn't know how to take that kind flattery." She covered her face with her hands with a dumb grin on her face. If she had skin she would have been blushing.

Victoria and Rosita look at each other and smile.

"Sounds to me like he really loved you. And still does" Victoria said.

"He was always a hopeless romantic" Imelda said with a sigh and still a bright smile on her face. She appeared to still be reminiscing.

Rosita hated to ask this question but she wanted to know.

"Mama Imelda, have you forgiven Papa Hector?" Rosita asked slowly. Imelda's dreamy smile vanished. She looked confused.

Imelda took a deep breath. "I am close to forgiving him now." She said as if it were hard to even speak.

"I never thought I'd ever even consider forgiving him, but now…. Learning what happened, everything that happened between him and _Ernesto_ " Imelda spat out his name in disgust. Not too long ago she barely spoke Hector's name. "What he did to him! What he did to our family! What…I did." Imelda's whole body seemed to sag. She covered her eyes with her hand masking her pain as best she could.

"What you did?" Victoria asked.

"Yes!" Imelda said harshly removing her hand from her face. "I removed any trace of Hector from our family, and because of that he was almost gone!" She let out. She paced back and forth in distress.

"He almost left me….again. I always thought that I wouldn't care if he disappeared. After learning of the final death I told myself I wouldn't care if he faded into nothing. But…." Imelda stopped pacing and held her hand to her mouth to stop a sob. "Seeing him deteriorate before my eyes, to see him so weak and helpless, I would have given anything to stop whatever other worldly power was taking him from me." She tried to stop herself from crying. She held back good.

"Oh Mama Imelda" Rosita said approaching her putting a hand on her back.

"Seeing him come back…I never felt so relieved." Imelda said with a tired smile. She removed her hand from her mouth. "I realized then that there was no point in holding my anger for him. It's…..tiring to stay angry for so long. So many times I wanted to give up my rage and move on but I felt like I'd be too soft, too weak to forgive and forget so easily. But he made an effort to work for my trust. He has not complained once and moves at a pace I'm most comfortable." Imelda said sweetly.

"So….would it be alright to ask you about when you met Hector?" Rosita asked shyly with a grin. Imelda chuckled to herself and sighed.

"Alright, you win" Imelda said.

"Okay, so when did you first meet" Rosita asked coming forward to Imelda and looking eager. Victoria was about to tell her to ask a different question since Hector told them they only met after running into each other.

"Well…..I'm not even sure Hector knows this but, I actually knew who he was before we met" Imelda said nonchalantly. Rosita looked like she hit the jackpot with the grin she was wearing and Victoria looked equally shocked. This may be the more interesting story.


	4. Chapter 4

"You knew who Papa Hector was?" Rosita asked confused.

Imelda chuckled and sighed dreamily. "Oh I knew him all right" She confirmed. "It was perhaps two years before we met…..I was walking through the center of the town near the plaza to clear my head. Your tios were animals, I needed a break. While I was walking I heard a guitar playing. I followed the sound to the center of the plaza where two young boys were playing music on the steps."

Imelda remembered being shocked when she saw two young men, one about her age and the other a little older. They wore normal dress shirts and pants and raggedy poor excuses for shoes.

"Those two were quite a pair. They seemed like complete opposites, but I suppose that was always an interesting sight for the audience. The older of the two was handsome, had the perfectly coiffed hair, pronounced chin and had a smile and voice that caused the women in the crowd to faint." Imelda said this remembering how amusing and sad it was to see women her age and older lose their senses over a young man. While she understood the appeal, she was not fooled.

"He may have been beautiful on the outside, but there was something about that smile I did not trust. I noticed that baboso wasn't even playing his guitar as much as he was singing. He seemed more in love with the attention than the music. The one who was truly playing was his partner." Imelda took a moment to pause and swooned internally remembering when she first really looked at him.

"While the older boy was large and the perfect picture of masculinity, his partner was everyway the opposite. He was tall, but very skinny. He played with such passion as he kept his eyes only on his guitar. He was focused on keeping with melody flowing as he sang the lyrics. Oh, the way his fingers danced as he played his song. All those people completely looking over him in favor of his phony partner. But he didn't care. He smiled as he grew more confident in his skill and played as if he would never tire" Imelda said dreamily as she started to walk around, almost dancing waving her hands around becoming lost in her memory.

She refused to mention how she found his sharp face far more attractive than his partner's. She didn't mind that he was on the thin side. His nose was a bit large but it complimented his face. His pronounced cheek bones, his small patch of facial hair on his chin, even his large hands that played the guitar with such expertise attracted her. But the two features she absolutely adored were his eyes and his smile. When he would every once in a while look up at the crowd and she'd get a chance to see his eyes she was entranced. When he smiled, she fell to pieces inside. His enthusiasm as he played was contagious she couldn't help but smile and laugh. Whoever this young man was, he was the real star. He was so skinny that the guitar looked far too large for him to hold. She thought it was a damn shame that no one seemed recognize his skill.

"And I assume the handsome older man was de la Cruz and the skinny one was Papa Hector?" Victoria asked.

"Yes. It was a matter of appearances when it came to Ernesto. De la Cruz had all the blessed looks and voice that any man would kill to have, but calling him a musician was an insult to true musicians. He used his guitar more as an accessory than an instrument he devoted his life to playing. I believed a musician was only ever a musician when he played from the heart and performed for the love of the music not the attention of the crowd. Hector was overshadowed by Ernesto but he didn't care. He played with such focus and intensity that could only belong to a true musician." Imelda said proudly holding her hands together to her heart.

Victoria and Rosita smirked at each other and thought the same thing, love at first sight.

"If you saw him then, why didn't you introduce yourself?" Rosita asked. Imelda's face dropped.

"Fate or bad luck you choose" She said annoyed with a hint of sarcasm.

When Ernesto and Hector finished playing and the crowd cheered, Imelda anxiously approached them with nerves and excitement. She didn't know what to say as she got closer but she knew she had to talk to him. And just as she got close…then a big figure blocked her.

"Imelda! My, my aren't you a sight for sour eyes" said an obnoxious voice. Imelda cringed as she recognized that voice. She looked up to meet his eyes and sure enough it was him, Ricardo Vasquez. He was the son of one of the wealthiest families in Santa Cecilia. He made it know before that he was interested in Imelda and showered her with gifts of flowers, jewelry, and hair accessories. He had a long face, a crooked nose and smirk that she desperately wanted to slap off his face. He dressed a fine jacket, dress shirt, matching pants and shined shoes.

"Not now Ricardo, and NOT EVER! How many times must I say this?!" Imelda ranted with her hands on her hips glaring at him. She took a step back from him as he stepped forward.

"Oh sure you say that now but in time you'll get used to the idea of being my wife. Until we are of proper age to marry, I'm happy to wait until you come around." He says arrogantly with a smile and Imelda was itching to take off her boot. Just as she was about to take it off, she hears talking behind Ricardo.

"Great show eh amigo" Said a boisterous voice. Imelda looked over Vasquez's shoulder and saw Ernesto and Hector walking away. Ernesto patted Hector on the back with a big smile with great force. The pat winded Hector and he coughed and looked sheepishly at his partner with a smile.

"It'd be better if a certain someone was more focused on playing he guitar than playing to the crowd" Hector said sarcastically. Ernesto laughed.

Imelda tried to pass by Ricardo to get to Hector but to no avail. He just moved more in front of her trying to catch her attention.

"Is something bothering you Imelda?" Ricardo asked. Imelda wanted to scream.

"Yes YOU ARE! NOW FOR THE LAST TIME LEAVE ME ALONE! IF YOU DON'T LEAVE IN THE NEXT 5 SECONDS I'LL BEAT THE STUPID GRIN ON YOUR FACE!" Imelda yelled in his face. Ricardo seemed to get the message as he stepped back in fear on the angry woman before him.

"Now, now Imelda, there's no need to get excited, let's just take a walk…." Ricardo didn't get to finish his sentence because he got a mouth full of boot that knocked him off his feet. Imelda had it, not only was this man annoying her, but she looked behind him and saw that Hector was gone. She missed him because this idiot got in her way.

"I say again…" Imelda said with a phony smile. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" She yelled and sure enough he ran.

"Well I'd say that's rotten luck" Victoria commented.

Imelda sighed and massaged her forehead with one hand. "Just remembering that pest is giving me a headache." Imelda said.

"I suppose I was also my own worst enemy at the time." Imelda admitted.

"What do you mean?" Rosita asked.

Imelda sighed. "Around that time I was surrounded by men who couldn't take a hint. I hated that my own mother told me I shouldn't be so 'picky' with my men because I'll need one to take care of me. I'd rather have had my legs, arms and neck broken than ever be any those men's little wife." She groaned in annoyance.

Imelda was a woman ahead of her time. She hated that being a woman in her town she was only ever expected to be a wife and mother. She saw the way husbands treated their wives and how some were simply complicit and obedient women to be seen and not heard. She knew that she had no other option but she held high standards for herself. She vowed that no matter what she would not spend the rest of her life with a man simply for convenience. As much as she believed her own vow, she knew that she had to choose between the few men that lived in her town. She looked at them from a practical view and decided which one's would be more likely to be good providers, obey whatever she said, and be a decent father. She failed to see any chance she'd marry for love.

But then she met Hector and never even thought about her stipulations for marriage. She truly was simply enamored with this man and wanted to know more about him.

"I wanted to talk to Hector but, I didn't know what kind of man he was. For all I knew he could have been as much of a pig as those other men I've seen. So, I never made the first move. I wasn't going to give a man the satisfaction of seeing me show interest in him just so he could brag to his friends that I 'threw myself at him'. I had too much pride for that. So…..I did what I thought was the only thing I could do, I waited for him to come to me. Ay yi yi! Was that a mistake!" Imelda whined shaking her head.

Rosita and Victoria chuckled to themselves. Everything seemed to fit together. Hector was too scared to approach her and Imelda was too proud to approach him. No wonder they didn't actually meet each other for awhile.

"For months I'd see him walk passed by me in town and just when I thought he'd grow a spine and talk to me, the cobarde turned tail and left! I couldn't believe the one time I find a man I'm interested in, and he's putting me through this torture because he's too scared to even talk to me." Imelda ranted.

"I could have just given up after the last 30 times he just walked passed me, but I was determined to get that man to look me in the eye and talk. So, I did quite a desperate move…." Imelda said now with an embarrassed look on her face. Rosita and Victoria looked at each other confused.

Imelda told them how in a last attempt to actually confront Hector, she intentionally walked right into Hector as he was walking in town. Luckily he had his head and didn't seem to be trying to look for Imelda with the intent to avoid her. Imelda took this opportunity to walk as fast as she could and made sure to make a big enough impact that he would feel it, and so would she. Sure enough, Hector let out a painfully yelp as she walked right into his chest and they both fell on their butts. Imelda's head was throbbing from the impact of colliding with Hector's bony chest but she knew it would be worth it.

"I'm terribly sorry senorita! I didn't see where I was going I shouldn't have…" Hector's apology died on his lips as he saw who he ran into. He became tongue tied and felt like he was choking. Imelda in all her natural beauty with her long dark hair in a braid over her shoulder wearing a flattering yellow off the shoulder dress, was sitting on the filthy ground rubbing her beautiful head in pain.

Imelda felt since he spoke first now, she could speak. "Oh no it's alright. I was a bit clumsy myself" Imelda lied with a smile trying to sound innocent but even to her she could tell her voice sounded phony.

Hector still didn't speak as he was still either in shock or awe of her. Imelda would have been flattered if he didn't stare for so long. When she got bored of his staring, she decided to take the lead again.

"Um, could you help me up, I'm afraid I may have…..sprained my ankle." Imelda forced out. She felt she could slap herself. How could someone 'sprain their ankle from just bumping into someone'? She hoped he didn't question her request. Fortunately, hearing that she may have been injured was just the thing to snap him out of his daze as he got right up and babbled apologies as he offered her his hand. She smiled at him and took his hand. She was surprised by his strength when he tugged her up so fast she collided with his chest again, but this time she placed her hands on his chest to cushion the impact. She looked into his eyes in wonder and intrigue. He was bone skinny but had an impressive amount of strength. Hector stared at her dreamily.

"Wow, you're even more beautiful up close" He said with no shame. Imelda's face turned red and her heart fluttered non stop. She was no stranger to compliments and didn't care what other men said about her beauty. But the way that Hector gazed at her and truly sounded like he meant every word, she was speechless. When Hector realized what he just said he turned red as well and started to stutter in embarrassment. Imelda couldn't help but find that adorable. He was almost a head taller than her as he looked down at her as if he was in disbelief that she was real. Imelda was used to men leering at her with unclean thoughts. This was a first time that she felt like she was being seen as a something….beautiful, otherworldly, precious.

"You're not so bad yourself" Imelda said boldly with a smirk gently stroking his chest with one hand. She felt his body freeze up and gulped loudly. She laughed to herself and decided to spare the poor guy.

"I'm Imelda" She said with a bright smile. Now that she was so close to this man after trying to attract his attention for so long, she wanted to spend as much time as she could with him at this moment. She feared she'd never get another chance like this if he got scared after this.

"Hector" He managed to hiccup. His voice broke into a high pitch when he introduced himself. He gave a sheepish smile and Imelda noticed he had a gold tooth. Any other woman would see this as ugly, low class, poor. Imelda found it added to his appeal.

Victoria and Rosita stared at Imelda in shock. She actually put on such an act just to talk to Hector.

Imelda sighed dreamily as she remembered how she felt being held in his arms.

"Well now you know" Imelda said indefinitely as she walked back up the stairs to her room.

"Wait! What about after that?! How long did you see each other before he proposed?! Please tell us!" Rosita begged.

"No, no, no I told you how we met and that is all you'll hear today." Imelda said firmly as she walked up the steps of the stairs.

"Can we ask Papa Hector?!" Rosita asked. Imelda's stopped walking up the stairs and looked over her shoulder with a suspicious look.

"You really want to know that badly you would go to Hector?" Imelda asked.

"If you won't tell us then we'll just ask him" Victoria said with a shrug. Imelda paused and appeared to be thinking very hard. She came to a decision.

"All right. You can ask him, but I must be in the room when you do. I want to make sure he doesn't try to make up stories to make himself look good." Imelda said.

"Oh thank you Mama Imelda! Can we do it tomorrow please" Rosita asked happily with a giggle.

"Yes fine! Now let this old woman rest in peace" Imeda complained as she disappeared up the stairs.

Rosita giggled again when she heard exactly what Imelda said. She barely avoided the flying boot that came at head as she ducked in cover.

"THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSE TO BE A JOKE!" Imelda yelled. There was a momentary pause then….

"Now bring back my boot" Imelda demanded.


	5. Chapter 5

Hector and Imelda sat awkwardly next to each other on the family sofa in the Rivera home. Hector is sitting up straight tapping his fingers on his knee nervously. Imelda coughs but sit up straight and tries to keep a composed face with her hands folded on her lap. She allows her eyes to drift in Hector's direction. She doesn't know what to say. It' been so long since they had a normal conversation. Ever since the Dia de Muertos they've kept their dialogue to a minimum to a couple of exchange of words. Hector is more the happy to go at a slow pace for Imelda's comfort. He is trying not to do anything to offend her or say anything to annoy her. Unfortunately, that means he ends up saying nothing making it seem like he doesn't enjoy her company. The only reason they were sitting together was because they agreed to tell their family about their past. Imelda was both curious and uncomfortable. She was curious as to how Hector interpreted their relationship and feeling awkward by having to talk about their relationship together with their family. She's spent so much time trying to bury the past it felt odd to now let it all out in the open.

Victoria and Rosita were bringing in chairs to sit right in front of Hector and Imelda. Oscar, Felipe, and Julio were bringing in snacks. Once everyone took their seats they all just stared at Imelda and Hector waiting for one of them to start. Imelda started.

"Alright, whatever else you want to ask us you can. WE will BOTH decide whether or not to answer it." Imelda said placing her hand on his which was on his lap. The family looked at each other and all nodded in agreement.

Rosita was the first to speak. "When did you propose to Mama Imelda?" she asked eagerly. Hector was about to speak but then turned to Imelda quietly asking for permission to speak. Imelda smiled and nodded her head.

Hector was more than happy to share now. "Well, that's easy it was almost a year after we met. I was planning on proposing to her for months but never knew when was the right time. I also was saving money for a ring. I wanted to wait until I had enough for a ring, but I couldn't wait." Hector smiles widely and dreamily stares at Imelda. Imelda is surprised by his gaze that she looked the other way but smiled to herself while faking trying to fix her hair.

"I wanted to ask for her hand as soon as possible. I would have asked her the night after we met if I knew she would say yes." Hector admitted. Rosita awed while Victoria smirked. Oscar and Felipe laughed seeing Imelda's shocked reaction from Hector's confession. No normal man would admit something that embarrassing but Hector had no shame when it came to his undying love and devotion for Imelda.

"You didn't ask her father's permission to propose to her?" Julio asked.

"Are you kidding? Her papa hated me with a passion." Hector said annoyed. They all laughed at that.

"He was no different than my father so it didn't bother me so much. Her mama was a different story." Hector says looking like he's about to be telling a monster story. "That woman was strong for her age. The minute she saw me and my guitar approach her house, she chased me out with a broom!" Hector exclaimed. He rubbed his head just remembering the pain.

Imelda chuckled at the memory. "Mama Imelda, you mean you married Papa Hector without your parents' blessing?" Victoria asked looking shocked.

Imelda sighed. "They meant well but they were both so stubborn and set in their ways they wouldn't give Hector a chance no matter how much I tried to convince them otherwise" Imelda said sounding like tired from jut remembering the struggle with her parents.

"Stubborn huh, sounds familiar." Hector said sarcastically without thinking. Once he realized what he said, he jumped to the end of the couch furthest from Imelda and held his hands up in defense. Everyone looked at Imelda waiting for her response.

Imelda didn't seem to bend toward her boot to take it off. She looked at Hector and sighed. "I know, I can tend to be a little…hard headed sometimes" Imelda said ready to defend herself with an excuse.

When Hector saw she wasn't going to hit him, he eased up and moved back to his original spot.

"But that's what I always loved about you" Hector said smiling at Imelda. She looks up at him surprised. He sounded like he was making fun of her before but now he says he liked her bull headedness? And he was looking at her with such a loving gaze as if he was in disbelief she was really next to him.

"You're a woman who knows what she wants. You never shy away from saying what you like or don't like and bend to no one. How could I possibly not fall for a woman like that?" He admitted. He moved to place his hand on top of hers that was on her lap hesitantly. When she didn't pull her hand away, he kept it there.

"I didn't want to leave your side for a second because I was afraid once you got to know the other men in town, you'd realize you could do better." Hector confessed only looking at Imelda. He acted as if they didn't have an audience right now. Imelda took one look at his sad eyes and felt like she was a young woman all over again. Hector had a way of making Imelda swoon with just his eyes and smile. His eyes were honest and open about his feelings and Imelda didn't know what to do with a man who was had no shame when it came to his feelings. How could he ever think so little of himself to think she was looking at anyone but him.

"Hector" Imelda said breathlessly putting her other had that wasn't under Hector's over his and held it tight. Hector put his other hand on hers and they were holding each other's hands on Imelda's lap.

"Ahem" Victoria coughed. Hector and Imelda looked at their amused audience and then each other. When they both looked down at their hands, they pulled away and turned away from each other wearing embarrassed grins.

"So it seems like you were a rebel yourself Mama Imelda" Victoria commented.

"Oh you don't even know the half of it. She would sneak out almost every night to see him" Oscar said with a giggle.

"Yeah she got really good at climbing in and out of her window" Felipe commented impressed.

"Of course you two would know you kept spying on me" Imelda said angered.

"We were only looking out for you" Oscar said.

"Yeah we wanted to make sure this guy treated our sister with respect." Felipe tagged along.

"Oh there was no worry about that I was the perfect gentleman with her, never took anything too far." Hector said proudly with his arms crossed.

Imelda looks at him annoyed and then looks away. "That's for sure" she said sarcastically.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Hector asked confused.

"Being a gentleman is one thing Hector, but waiting months to even kiss me is just ridiculous." Imelda said with a grunt.

"Did you really not kiss her for that long?" Julio asked. Hector looked embarrassed now. "I thought I was being polite" he said.

"I've dealt with stupid men who got fresh just within a few days of meeting, but you decide to be the one man who keeps his distance." Imelda said. She knew she was letting out more info than needed but she was letting off steam now. All that time she was waiting for a kiss, he was holding back to be a gentleman. She's had to deal with slimy men pawing at her and the one man she wanted to be as physically close as possible with, was treating her like a lady, and it drove her mad.

"I'm sorry Imelda, I thought I was doing the right thing." Hector said not sure if it made any difference to apologize now.

"Anyway, back to the proposal, how did you do it?" Victoria asked.

"I'll tell you. After he took me to dinner we went for a walk and he spent the whole time looking up at the sky not saying a word. Then he slowly gets down on one shaking knee and manages to take his hand in mine and just babbled my name nonstop." Imelda fumed.

"You mean you never actually said the words!" Felipe said starting to laugh.

"No, I saved him the trouble and said yes. Honestly, you kept me waiting for months! I was wondering if you were ever going to ask me" Imelda said revealing even more.

"You mean, you were waiting for me to propose" Hector said astonished. It seemed too good to be true that Imelda was just as eager as he was to be married. It did do some good to his ego to see a woman as lovely as Imelda wanting to be his wife.

Imelda didn't respond. She looked too embarrassed by revealing so much.

"Well…didn't see that coming" Oscar commented shaken as well.


End file.
